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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29207403">Blood and the Construct</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/EWM/pseuds/EWM'>EWM</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>MacGyver (TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Altered Carbon Fusion, Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016) Whump, Blood and Gore, Broken Bones, Burning, Desi beating the crap out of Mac, Desi being beaten up, Desi being there for Mac even in the weirdest situations, F/M, Gen, Hurt Angus Macgyver (Macgyver 2016), Mac and Desi love (kind of), Mac as Kovacs, Mac being tortured, MacWhump, Mind Control, Takeshi Kovacs - Freeform, Whump, all the whump, macgyver whump</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:48:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,044</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29207403</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/EWM/pseuds/EWM</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Mac sees Desi and tries to kill her</p><p>This was originally written as a potential standalone for FebuWhump, I decided to keep it separate and expand it. Let me know what you think</p><p>(for the Mac and Desi lovers out there)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Angus MacGyver/Desiree "Desi" Nguyen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Desi watched from the cupboard as Mac entered the room. Something was wrong, he seemed almost mechanical, all the easy movement and relaxed gestures that she had grown to love about him were gone. He was singled minded, horribly so, there was a look in his eye that she couldn’t quite define. She remained silent watching as he ripped the room apart. Then she realised what it was, it was a vicious streak. Mac had more than a few faults (like most people), but he didn’t have a vicious bone in body. He always took care of everything that mattered to him, everyone. The way he was tearing apart the desk, the files, shredding them, there was a kind of venomous glee that had apparently come out of nowhere.</p><p>Finally, he came to the cupboard, maybe he’d heard her, maybe he’d some flash of her. Who knows? He ripped the door open throwing it across the room. Desi stood with her back flat against the wall. He moved towards her to crush her shoulder, Desi caught his arm and slammed it around his back dragging them both out of the cupboard.  She heard a wrench of metal. He groaned loudly but responded by slamming her back into another wall. Desi saw stars, then kicked out against his back aiming to unbalance him. He fell to the floor. She backed away from him, her fists up. He was up again almost immediately, he kicked her in the legs, she dodged. He aimed a fist at her and managed hit the wall. Desi saw his hand came away scarlet, but no register of pain or injury.</p><p>He kept coming, a right hook, a left hook. She continued to dodge; her own training kept her alive. She did not fight back as she was scared, she could seriously hurt Mac. However, the point came when she didn’t have a choice. He managed to pull the remains of the smashed table up and wield it like a baton. He bashed her in the shoulder, and she went down screaming. Desi managed to find the long knife she kept in her right boot. So, when Mac came to finish her off, she drove it into his shoulder. He stumbled backwards dropping the broken metal debris of the table, crimson dripped out and onto the floor. He stared at the knife for a few seconds and then to Desi’s horror, he slowly and deliberately pulled the knife out leaving a gaping darkened hole in his clothes. The damp blade fell out of his hand with a clatter and then he advanced. Desi backed away still confused that Mac was even still standing, he should have collapsed or be screaming in agony.</p><p>He threw a punch and she fell backwards knocking her head, before she could recover his hands were around her neck.</p><p>“Mac…Mac…” Desi rasped</p><p>Time was running out, with the last of her strength she brought her knee up high and slammed it into his ribs. She heard the crack then she did it again and again; crack, crack. Finally, his hands loosened, and he moved away from her clutching his ribs. As the space in between them increased she went in for a high kick. Mac spat red after her foot made contact. Desi took advantage of his momentary lapse in concentration and her hand smashed into face; left and right. Mac’s lip split open and one of his eyes was red, he fell to his knees, a strange blank look on his face. She didn’t hesitate, she threw a final kick with her other leg and Mac collapsed on the floor. Desi, exhausted fell next to him, her hands covered in Mac’s blood.</p><p>While this was happening, the Mac that Desi would have recognised was screaming. He could feel an ice-cold table beneath him, yet there seemed to fire everywhere else. It was burning the tips of hands, his arms. He was trapped on the table, so he couldn’t move, couldn’t put the fire out. Fire filled his mind, the burning, the heat, the smell of burnt hair and skin. It filled every corner of his head. He screamed until he was hoarse and the fire consumed him.</p><p>“His reaction is fascinating. He seems to totally believe the construct.”</p><p>“Do you think he’s actually dead?”</p><p>“No of course not, he’s rebooted that’s all as a reaction to the trauma. He’ll wake up again soon enough.”</p><p>“What do you want to try next?”</p><p>Mac did indeed ‘reboot’, the fire was gone, the cold metal beneath him remained. He was still trapped. The room around him appeared to be mostly black, apart from where he lay, a light shined above his head making his eyes hurt. He tried to raise his hands, his feet. All he could feel was a strange stabbing pain as if thousands of needles were going into his extremities. The pain was so bad it made his whole body clench. He tried to call for help, but all he could hear was his own voice echoing in the blackness. The needle sensation increased, it spread across the rest of his skin. He wanted to rip the flesh off his bones, he felt his fingers becoming claws.</p><p>“Do you think this will drive him mad?”</p><p>“I don’t think so, but it could break him.”</p><p>“How long do you want to keep this going?”</p><p>“Until he snaps”</p><p>The room was dirty now and full of a low grade filthy sort of light.  Mac was not restrained, the room had a set of panels across one wall and what might have been the remains of a bar in the other. He was topless and barefoot, he had a set of loose black trousers on. He moved around the tiny space</p><p>“Chain…” a voice called</p><p>And out of the air a rusted metal chain slammed into Mac pushing him back against the panels. He attempted to fight back</p><p>“Sorry no military training here…”</p><p>The chain moved around Mac’s neck crushing his oesophagus.</p><p>“No advanced neurochem…no specialist reflexes”</p><p>“It’s as if you never went to Afghanistan!”</p><p>A metal table seemed to emerge out of nothing, the chain wrapped itself around Mac’s neck and threw him onto the table. He felt leather straps across his feet and wrists. Mac struggled and pulled; nothing came of it. Then a door opened, and a man came in wielding a serrated knife. He had a nasty smile. He put the knife at the base of Mac’s throat and ran it down to the bottom of his stomach. Mac roared; blood dripped from his lips. The man did not say what he wanted it. He just held the knife letting it settle into Mac’s stomach.</p><p>“Who are you???” Mac managed</p><p>“The man who is asking the questions…now let’s start with who do you work for?”</p><p>The knife was plunged into Mac’s gut and left there. Somehow, he remained conscious despite his life force pouring away through the holes in the metal.  The man took the chain and brought it down on his chest. Then he wrapped it around Mac’s shoulder and pulled</p><p>“ I forgot to mention…your bones are weaker”</p><p>There was a horrible sound of breaking bones and tissue and tendons ripping. Mac bellowed, but his eyes were on the yellow and green mildewed ceiling above him. Then he heard something. His eyes moved to the left and there she was</p><p>“You have to break free”</p><p>“I can’t…I can’t…I don’t know how”</p><p>“You must remember otherwise you won’t survive.”</p><p>“Please Desi…help me”</p><p>“I’m afraid this is all on you my love. You must find a way to break the construct, otherwise they will keep torturing you. Your mind will never be your own again.”</p><p>“I can’t…I can’t…”</p><p>“You must Mac”</p><p>His eyes returned to the ceiling; he could fell the wetness over his skin. Mac focused everything he had on it; he knew this wasn’t real. He knew his body was safe somewhere and whole. This was not his world…this was not…where he belonged. It was built to frighten him, to make him scared, to melt his mind into liquid. At first the pain did not go away, his arm remained limp.</p><p>Then the straps disappeared, and he half rolled, half fell away from the knife. Mac stared at the man with the blade and he gawped back. The knife disappeared from the man’s hands. The man’s body seemed to because fuzzy and indistinct, like a bad tv channel flickering in and out of sight. Mac turned away from him and returned to Desi. He trudged towards her and then dropped to his knees. She smiled at him. Mac’s hand went to his chest and a strange gaping hole seemed to emerge, he reached inside and pulled out…a darkened piece of flesh…his heart…still pumping. He raised it up and presented it to her</p><p>“It’s you…it’s always been you...it's been yours since the moment I met you.”</p><p>Desi bent down to his ear</p><p>“Well done my love…. now wake up!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Mac fights off his torturers and realises quite how much trouble he really is in</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Inside the room, Mac’s body disappeared in a wave of sparks and electronic beeps. His tormentor stared into the empty space where Mac’s form had been. In the real world, there was panic</p><p>“He stopped his own heart” one of the techs screeched</p><p>“What the fuck???”</p><p>Mac’s tormentor woke up before he did, he rose up from a clean white table, a set of electrodes were attached to his head.</p><p>“Get him back now!!” the man screamed</p><p>Mac opened his eyes and took a deep breath, the technician that had been about to shove an adrenaline shot into heart leapt away from him horrified. Mac turned slowly, his head ached and the black eye from his previous fight as well as the deep cut across his nose was still there. He was restrained, clear plastic straps were at his wrists. He could still see her, Desi stared at him from the corner of the room. A single tear fell from his right eye. It was a vast space, clinical and smelling of cleaning products. There were grey boxes and green lights everywhere, there was a long black line around the edge of the room and two doors, a back door and a front door.  There was one set of computers in the centre with three screens and an extended plastic table around it like an ugly little island. The second technician sat there about to crap his pants, on the far side. That poor girl lay ripped open, the blonde hair and heavy eye make-up…Anemone…Alice, that was her name, she’d been some body’s daughter once. Now her blood and intestines sat there like some disturbed art exhibit. There were bottles and vials next to her as well as half a dozen scalpels and other surgery knives.  There were more of them on the two tables that flanked him. All his gear lay in a pile near a table near his foot.  On the other side Mac could see his tormenter, the one with the serrated knife….He looked different in the real, his mohawked hair and nasty smile were not so frightening now.</p><p>“So, how's it going, deadbeat?” Mac asked smiling at him “Let's talk…Dimi”</p><p>He pulled his name from some corner of his memory? His memory? He’d never seen this guy before in his life!</p><p>“Oh, we will Ryker. Back in virtual. Put him under.” Dimi snapped</p><p>Ryker??? So that’s who he was now, his body really wasn’t his own…</p><p>“That's a great idea if you want to get RD'd.”</p><p>Mac’s voice had taken on a new level of menace…</p><p>“I said put him under!”</p><p>“Could this Ryker guy reach out of virtual and stop his own heart? Could he bring himself back? Has he ever been off world? You saw what the program pulled from my subliminals. A room on Harlan's World? I'm not who this guy thinks I am.”</p><p>“Has this Ryker dude been off world?” one of the technicians rasped</p><p>“What does that matter?” Dimi responded</p><p>“Maybe he's telling the truth. Who are you supposed to be now?”</p><p>“Someone you should truly not have fucked with. You dumb motherfuckers just abducted and tortured a CTAC officer. You have any idea what they're gonna do to you? They're gonna hunt you down. They're gonna rip your stacks out and feed 'em to the shredder. They're gonna kill your families, friends, dogs, cats, and fucking goldfish.”</p><p>Mac didn’t know if any of this was true, he very much doubted that Matty or Russ would ever take the time to do this. But that was not the point, fear was the key in this conversation. He looked down and saw a stream pouring down the technician’s trousers. Mimi on the other hand was not falling for it.</p><p>“Why would CTAC be wasting time sniffing around Licktown, huh?”</p><p>“There's a biopirate operation moving stolen military inventory out of places like Jack It Off.”</p><p>“Do you see it?” Desi murmured from the corner “multiplying in their brains like bacteria, reaching critical mass. Keep going.”</p><p>“The one who lets me up lives. The other two, the Corps is done with you. You won't even be a memory.”</p><p>The techs raced forward eager to undo his restraints</p><p>“Divide et impera.” Desi murmured</p><p>“I'm letting him loose.” One of the techs snapped</p><p>“Do not!” Dimi shouted</p><p>“Fuck this. I'm not letting you get me killed.”</p><p>And then the restraints were off. Mac half fell off the table, he pushed the two men out of the way. He grabbed the nearest bottle, he stared and dark brown colour; synthesized Picramic acid. He shook it violently and kicked the table he’d previously been lying on up. Dimi had just about enough time to move forward and swear, before his body exploded and his body parts went flying. The two techs were thrown backwards by the force of the explosion, one of them got acid on his skin and was screaming.  Mac ignored the screaming, he got up again. The table was bolted to the floor and had not been affected by the force of the explosion, other than the odd bit of burning skin. There were a set of knives in front of him and a loaded gun, Mac paused over the gun. Every part of him was telling him to pick it up and shoot the snivelling shit heads. In the end he picked up the knives and threw them outwards. That stopped the screaming. One went directly through the first tech’s head, the other went through the other man’s stomach leaving him choking in his own blood (he’d been trying to crawl away). Mac ran his fingers through his hair on autopilot, it was strange to find his long blonde hair not there. Instead, he registered someone else’s long hair over, he could feel a raised scar under his hair line. His hand went to the back of his neck, the faint line of his stack was still there. Of course it was, that was the only way they could have done this without driving him mad in the process, well more mad perhaps.</p><p>An alarm went off signalling that Mac needed to disappear at speed. He went around the room systematically picking up the different vials and beakers all filled with some foul-smelling liquid. He dropped each empty vessel as he went leaving a trail of glass and plastic in his wake. As he came towards the end of his little walk, he came across the dead tech. He pulled the knife out of the man’s head and walked over to what remained of Dimi. The miserable little shit who had spent God knows how long torturing him, he use the knife to saw off Mimi’s still intact head. He finally went back over to the largest of the tables and picked up the pink bag he had come with. His own red bladed knife was still there. Next to it was there was one last vial he had not touched. It had a cap on it, he span it around for a few minutes in his fingers then smiled as he walked towards the back door. He threw it at his back and the lab exploded. He pushed open the door and walked out into the rain. There were a set of stone steps conveniently placed there for him.</p><p>Mac wasn’t shocked by this, he suspected that this place wasn’t legitimate, maybe legal, but those who worked there would have needed a way out. It was raining outside, he didn’t mind that, it made everything feel more real. It was also convenient as it washed away the blood on his hands and his clothes. They weren’t even his clothes, they were…Rykers? Whoever the fuck that was? He needed to get back to his ship; to Desi and the others and find out what had happened. He also wanted a mirror, vain as it sounded. He needed to know exactly who’s shoes he had been forced into. It was a bizarre sensation walking in another man’s shoes, he never really got used to it, even when he had done it willing in the past.</p><p>This guy was huge, well over six foot and vast, an almost comic contrast to Mac’s true form. But whoever Ryker was, he had some advantages, as Dimi had described in the virtual, neurochem and battle reflexes. That certainly didn’t suck, but….he had some enemies. Dimi, he knew that face from somewhere or perhaps Ryker did. That was another issue he was going to have to try and fix, he’d been shoved into this body and now was suffering from merger sickness. Mac had read about it in the past, when you got a new sleeve and some hack job fucked up the process, traces of the sleeve’s original mind and the new recipient would get accidentally tangled up together. He knew the signs, the sickness, the slight shaking and he was just reacting differently, Mac fancied that beautiful silver pointed arrow pistol with recall power and that was going to be a serious problem.  </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This story is a massive nod to Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan (both the TV series and the book). I have also shamelessly pilfered huge chunks of dialogue for this scene. No offence meant, it is an act of love</p><p>What do you think of monstrous dark Mac, completing with swearing and killing? </p><p>Apologies for any science errors too!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Confused yet?? I am, let me know what you think? You want to know how these two got into this mess? Tell me :D</p><p>The prompt was "Mind Control" for anyone interested.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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